Spraying apparatus



J. COMMARATO 2,996,258

SPRAYING APPARATUS Filed Sept. 11, 1958 IN VEN TOR.

Jose ph Commurufo BY fl Q MMMYAW I-TQ A ATTORNEYS United States Patent C) This invention relates to spraying apparatus, and more particularly to hand-held sprayers' of controllable flow properties.

The present invention provides a sprayer in which the volume and character of the spray are controllable, e.g. as to particle size and pattern, by selection or adjustment of the orifices in an aspirating tube in which the fluid to an air current passing through aligned orifices in the side walls of such tube. In general, with the sprayers of the invention a high volume of atomized fluid is obtainable for a sprayer of given size.

The invention will be further described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary sectional view in elevation of a sprayer according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of the sprayer of FIG. 1; a

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view on the line 33 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a further enlarged fragmentary view taken on the line 44 of FIG. 1.

The sprayer of the present invention includes a cylin der or barrel 2, within which moves a piston 4, conveniently driven by a handle, not shown, connected to the piston by a rod 6. In front of the piston the cylinder includes a cup-shaped inner shell generally indicated at 8, the base of which forms a diaphragm dividing the interior of the cylinder into two chambers.

off at the front by means of a head or barrel end 16. A ball check valve generally indicated at 18 is arranged in the diaphragm 10, permitting air to be forced by the piston from chamber 1 2 into chamber 14 but preventing .The end of the container neck portion may be provided with a shoulder 28, made to stress a gasket 30 against a corresponding shoulder 32 in the screw cap 22.

The barrel 2, shell 8 and end 16 are fastened together in an air tight fit by means of a crimped or locked and soldered seal as indicated at 34. l

The barrel end 16 is pierced at 36 and the container cap 22 is pierced at 38, exteriorly of the portion of the cap soldered to barrel 2. A fluid tube 40 passes through the aperture 38 and extends down into the container 24, preferably nearly to the bottom thereof. A grommet generally indicated at 42, of rubber or the like, includes a lower portion 44 of generally conical or spherical exterior shape, as indicated in FIGS. 1 and 4 together. Grommet portion 44 has a bore coaxial with its exterior surface, accommodating tube 40, and effecting an air tight seal between the cap 22 and the tube where the tube passes through the cap at aperture 38.

The upper portion 46 of grommet 42, illustrated in FIG. 1 and in FIG. 3, has a through passage 48 provid- The piston works in rearchamber 12, and the front chamber 14 serves as areservoir for compressed air, the chamber 14 being closed '15 be sprayed is drawn from a container for atomization m ing, via transverse openings 50, 52 and 54 in the walls of tube 40 (FIG. 3), communication between chamber 14 and the free atmosphere.

Grommet 42 includes, .in the embodiment illustrated, a vertical portion 43 connecting portions 44 and 46, which serves to hold portion 44 in position to seal the exterior of tube 40 to cap 22 at aperture 38.

Portion 46 of grommet 42 is shaped to close off the upper end oftube 40, shown in the embodiment of the invention illustrated as being open at both ends. Passage 48 is moreover arranged as by means of a front portion 48 of reduced dimension transversely of tube 40, to provide communication between chamber 14 and the external atmosphere only through the interior of tube 40, via the plural apertures 50, 52 and 54 in the side walls of tube 40, these apertures being positioned, by appropriate rotation of tube 40 about its own axis, so that two apertures 50 and 52 open to the rear passage 48 while one aperture 54 opens to the front passage 48'.

The upper portion 46 of grommet 42 includes a flange '58 which can be forced through aperture 36. The flange prevents expulsion of the grommet from aperture 36 under the stress exerted by the air pressure in chamber 14. Upper grommet portion 46 seals the aperture 36, preventing egress of air from chamber 14 except through passage 48.

The pressure within container 24 is maintained equal to that in chamber 14 bya communicating aperture 62 effected through inner shell 8, barrel 2 and screw cap 22 in the contiguous portions of those three last-named elements.

piston 4 will produce at the front end 49 of passage 48 an atomized spray of the liquid (not shown in FIG. 1) in container 24, below whose surface tube 40 extends.

The liquid is lifted in tube 40 not only by the reduced pressure prevailing at the top of the tube, i.e. in the space therein between apertures 50, 52 and 54 by the high speed of flow of the air through that space, but also by effect of the pressure within chamber 14, acting on the fluid in tank 24 by virtue of the aperture 62.

It is a feature of the present invention that the tube 40 includes three apertures 50, 52 and 54 communicating with passage 48, these apertures being preferably unequal in size, at least as between the two which are exposed to the rear portion of passage 48.

By this construction there are provided two air streams which enter the interior of tube 40 through apertures 50 and 52. These streams are of unequal magnitude, or velocity, or both, and they consequently produce a rotating, highly turbulent flow of air within the tube, especially in the plane of the three apertures 50, 52 and 54, which assists the process of atomization.

It is a further feature of the present invention that the tube 40 is removable and replaceable with another tube having apertures corresponding to the apertures 50, 52 and 54 illustrated but of dilferent size. Thus a single sprayer may, by interchange of its fluid tubes, provide, for example, either a coarse or a fine spray.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, illustrated in the drawings herein, the tube 40 is reversible, and is provided with a set of apertures at each end, so that both coarse and fine sprays may be obtained from a single tube by reversing it end for end in the grommet 42.

While the invention has been described herein in terms of a preferred embodiment, various changes may be made in the structure which has been illustrated and described without departing from the invention itself, the scope of which is set forth in the appended claims. For example, separate grommets may be provided at the passage of the fluid tube into the container and for connection of the 3 aperture in the end wall' 16 of chamber 14 to' the aperture or apertures in the side wall of the tube. The tube may moreover be of oval or other non-circular cross section.

'1 claim pump cylinder supported with one end thereof adjacent. said container, an end. wall: closing said one endof said cylinder, saidend wall having an aperture therein, atube.

extending from within. said container to a location, ex.- terior of said cylinder andsaidcontainer in the vicinity of said aperture, said tube having threeapertures through the: side wall thereof adjacent'the aperture in said end wall, said three: apertures. being disposedv equidistant lengthwise. of saiditube, andltubular means connectingthe the side wall thereof adjacent the aperture in said end wall, said three apertures being disposed equidistant lengthwise of said tube, tubular means connecting the periphery of the aperture in. said end Wall-with the combined periphery of two of said three apertures, saidtwoapertures: being. of unequal. size, and. means. closing, the end of saidtube'exterior of said container.

31..v Sprayer apparatus comprising a closed fiuidcon-- tainer, a pump. cylinder supported with an end thereof adjacent said container, means providing access between the interior of said cylinder and the interior ofsaid container, an end wall closing said. end of said cylinder, said end wall having an aperture therein, a tube passing, into said container exteriorly of said cylinder, airtight means sealing, the exterior of. said tube to said v container at its passage thereinto, and a grommet engaged in the aperture of said end Wall, said grommet having an aperture. in the side wallthereof exterior-1y of. said cylinder, the end of said tube exterior of said'container passing through said aperture in the-side wall of said grommet, sa'id tube having a plurality of apertures through: the: side wall thereof. within said grommet providing access: between the interior of said cylinder and the exterior atmosphere via said. grommet and the'interior of said. tube.

4. Sprayer apparatus: comprising; a: closedfluid con.- tainer, a pump cylinder supported with an end thereof adjacent said container, means providing access between the interior of said cylinder and the interior of said container, an endwall closing saidendof said cylindensaid;

sealing the exterior of said tube-to said container at its.v

passage thereinto, and a grommet engaged in the: aperf i 5 1. Sprayer apparatus; c mrnprising a fluid container,.a

4 ture of said end wall, said grommet including two communicating tubular portions of the unlike internal diameter, said portion of greater diameter communicating with the interior of said cylinder, said grommet further having an aperture in the side wall thereof at the junction of said portions, the end of said tube exterior to said container being received through the aperture in the side wall of said grommet, said tube having three apertures through the side wall thereof, two of said last named apertures giving access between. theinterior of said. tube and" said portion of greater diameter and the other of said last named apertures giving access between the interior of said; tube and said portion of lesser diameter.

5. A- sprayer comprising a closed fluid container, a pump cylinder arranged with one end thereof adjacent said container an end wall closing said end of said cylinder, said end wall having an aperture therein, means providing access between the interior of said cylinder and the interior'of said container, an aperture in said container, a firstgrommet engaged in said last-named. aperture, a tube passing through said grommet, said tube having apluralit-y' of aperturesthrorugh the side' wall thereof adjacent each: end thereof, a second grommet engaged in the aperture in said endwall; said second. grommet havingan aperture in the sidewall thereof exterior of said cylinder accommodating" an end of said tube, the: apertures at eachend: of said tube being spaced from. such end to be open to the 'passagethrough said second grommet upon, engagement of such end in; said second grommet.

6: A sprayer comprising: a closed fluid container, a pump cylinder arranged with one end thereof adjacent said container;v anendv wall closing said end of said .cylinder, said end wall having an aperture therein, means providmg'aecess bet-Ween the interior of said cylinder andtheinterior of said container, a tube having one end within said container and the other end exterior to said container and to said cylinder adjacent said: aperture, said tube; having in the: side wall thereofadjacent said aperturetln'ee apertures atv the same position lengthwise of said tube, tubular meansconnecting the aperture in said' end: wall with. two of said three apertures, said two apertures. being ofunequal size, and means closing the end? of saidstube exterior to said container.

References (Site'din the fil'eof this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

